


all i want (is to be home)

by playedwright



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Romance, literally just like. 1k of soft words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 07:55:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17403023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/playedwright/pseuds/playedwright
Summary: It’s their quiet nights that become his favorite.*In which, for Dex, this is enough for a lifetime.





	all i want (is to be home)

**Author's Note:**

> this is just really soft i have no excuses i needed them to be soft and in love thanks.
> 
> for cossette, who has read every nurseydex fic except for this one, that i just wrote for her.

It’s their quiet nights that become his favorite.

 

Something settles within the both of them once they stop fighting back their feelings; it’s easy in a way neither of them expected. There are nights filled with heated kisses and nights filled with shouted arguments, and there are nights where Nursey doesn't sleep in his bed or when they aren't even at the same place and Dex just  _longs._  And then there are nights like tonight.

 

Nursey’s legs are tangled with his, arms curved around Dex’s shoulders, and their faces are so close that Dex accidentally brushes his nose against Nursey’s when he shifts. It’s late and the room is dark. In maybe less than an hour’s time it will be closer to morning than night. Time moves both too slowly and too quickly when he spends time with Nursey, something he hasn't quite been able to figure out yet. And Dex is content.

 

This is his favorite kind of night.

 

He thinks Nursey is asleep—his breathing stutters every now and then and his eyelashes flutter against his chest. From where Dex lays, moonlight splashes faintly against Nursey’s skin. There are a few freckles on his cheekbones; ones he probably doesn’t even realize are there. Even asleep, Dex is enamored by him. Derek Nurse is beautiful. Dex has never felt more lucky in his life.

 

It’s the sleep-delirious thoughts that keep him up. He can’t get Nursey out of his head, not even now when they’re wrapped up with one another. He is used to spending his time thinking about Nursey; worrying about him, wondering about him, daydreaming and hoping and maybe even, desperately, dreaming. Dex thinks he he could be content spending the rest of his life consumed with thinking about Nursey.

 

They’ve only been together for a few weeks, at most—it’s still too early to say it, to say anything, really. Even if Dex is feeling it. Even if it’s something he’s felt for a long time, since before they even got together. Hell, the first time Dex ever even kissed him solidified what he’d already suspected.

 

He loves Derek Nurse enough for a lifetime.

 

In the morning, there will be practice to worry about. Classes and midterms, and helping Bitty with his thesis. Making sure Derek consumes something other than coffee as he’s reading through peer edits. In the morning, the rest of the world will await them, and life will move on, and Dex will still be feeling this way.

 

But right now? Right now he gets to hold Derek. Gets to memorize the way it feels to sleep so close to him that he can feel Derek’s breath against his cheek. Gets to absentmindedly trace his thumb along the rivets in Derek’s spine. He can practice how he wants to say it, for the first time. If he were brave, he’d mouth the words now. Maybe even say them, to see how they taste in his mouth and falling off his tongue. But he isn’t brave enough, not yet.

 

He notices, half asleep, that the blanket has shifted down; Derek’s bare shoulder is now exposed, and just the faintest trace of his tattoo are visible. In a minute, Dex will pull the blanket back up to keep Derek warm. Not yet.

 

In his wildest dreams, he never could have imagined that he’d actually get this. Derek Nurse seemed unattainable, an ignited match whose spark would only be dimmed by Dex. And yet—there was something about the two of them together that was so unexpectedly  _ right. _

 

They fit. No one had expected it, but they did. Perfect complements of one another, jagged edges that work. They don’t always line up; but Dex is learning that it’s normal. And that sometimes, Dex was so blissfully happy that it was  _ okay  _ that they didn’t always get along. Dex was…  _ so  _ happy.

 

He sighs, content, and shifts forward again. His nose brushes against Derek’s and he lets it stay there. Content to just be close to Derek, however that entails.

 

Dex knows he should sleep. The morning does await them, and there will be more nights like this. Perhaps if he’s lucky, there will be lifetimes of nights like this.

 

So he’s about to move again, to pull the blanket over Derek’s shoulder and to curl more against Derek’s chest, finding new ways to be close to him and relishing in it, when Derek says it. And Dex stops where he’s at, floored, and devestatingly in love.

 

“I’m going to marry this boy,” Derek whispers.

 

His eyes don’t flutter, and he doesn’t move, but his mouth curves into the softest smile and his hands are sure where they fall on Dex. Dex can’t tell if Derek is still asleep or if he’s been awake this whole time.

 

But it doesn’t matter.

 

Because Derek is right. 

 

One day, Derek is going to marry him. Some day in the future, they’ll move in together and they’ll talk about adopting dogs and kids and they’ll talk about marriage. Dex will plan an elaborate proposal and Derek will probably do something to ruin the evening like spilling the champagne all over the table. And Dex will just smile at him and hold his hand and propose anyway. Someday they are going to get  _ married  _ and Dex is so, so lucky—he’s really going to get a lifetime of this.

 

Of contentment, of closeness, of quiet nights and everything that comes before and after.

 

He gets this  _ forever. _

 

So regardless of whether Derek is awake or not, Dex moves until he can kiss Derek’s nose, then he adjusts the blankets until they’re both covered, and he falls asleep thinking about Derek’s moonlight freckles and one day, inevitably, the moment he’ll ask Derek to spend the rest of their lives together.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me [here](https://tonytangredis.tumblr.com/).
> 
> comment, kudos, bookmark below!


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